


Political Dances

by spaceCassette



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Insecure Lance, Langst, M/M, Oops, Slow Burn, ao3 has the worst formatting, cause why the hell not, did i mention this is a slowburn because i hate myself and want you guys to suffer with me?, i tried to make it as easy to read as possible but, it'll get more interesting when they actually go to the gala, klance, lance feels ignored, new updates, the prompt was them teaching each other stuff, there will be no smut so if you are here for that then you are dumb out of luck my dude, this fic is a big mess, this was originally meant for a thing i entered and the i forgot to finish let alone post it, whoosh a keith appears, yes regiis means royalty in latin i didnt make up the word im just lazy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-26
Updated: 2018-05-31
Packaged: 2019-05-13 22:02:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,856
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14757116
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spaceCassette/pseuds/spaceCassette
Summary: Zarkon is dead. Keith is no longer on the team. Lotor seems to be wedging his way into Voltron, gaining everyone's trust. Shiro seems to be doing the opposite.Lance has been questioning whether he actually belongs on the team for awhile, whether he actually deserved Keith's title of the Red Paladin or unjustly stole it, and everything else going on doesn't seem to be making him any more sure of himself.Allura announces Team Voltron's participation at the upcoming Regiis Gala, an event celebrating the accomplishments of each universally recognized nation outside the Galra Empire. The celebration is quite large and lasts nearly a week.The problem is that the human side of Team Voltron is very lacking in manners or literally any understanding of non-human cultures and etiquette. They'll have to try their best to learn the royal customs and dances, and hopefully pull them off at the Regiis. There's one problem. Lance wasn't expecting an ex-Red Paladin to be joining in on the events as well.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I'll be updating every Thursday with a new chapter. Leaving positive comments really does help me get chapters done faster and boosts my confidence a heck of a lot. Any suggestions or critiques are helpful and have fun reading this!

      Lance didn’t know why he’d never spent extra time on the training deck before. It was often empty with naturally crisp clean air, almost reminding him of home, and although being surrounded by friends and family would normally be something he’d crave, nowadays he felt claustrophobic. Surrounded by Pidge and Hunk, Shiro and Allura, hell, now even Lotor, all smart and cunning and strong and good at what they did, he felt like he was expected to be great too. As great as them. Pidge, the hacker. Hunk, the mechanic. Allura, the diplomat. Shiro, the leader. Ugh. Lance didn’t want to think about Shiro. He was already weighed down by what entire planets expected of him, he didn’t want his subconscious adding too much of Shiro to that mix.

  
      A clang echoed through the deck as his bayard hit one of the training bots. A small and sleek floating sphere. It fell to the ground, and triumphantly, Lance stumbled backwards and found himself sitting on the floor. Sweat he hadn’t noticed before dripped down his forehead and he gasped for air he didn’t know his lungs needed. He’d been at it for about two hours and his bayard’s new broadsword form was taking awhile to get used to, but he couldn’t say he didn’t enjoy it. It’s not your bayard. The thought itched at the back of his mind. It’s not your bayard. He gripped the broadsword tighter. It’s not your bayard. It’s his. His sword. His bayard. His lion. His place on the team. You weren’t good enough to make your own place, so you stole his.  
      Lance jumped to his knees and before he knew what he was doing, the Red Paladin’s bayard was being hurled at the wall across the room as something in him snapped. It hit the wall and unlike the training bots definite and precise end, the weapon landed still intact. Still there to taunt him as it’s clattering echoed through the deck.

  
      “It’s not my fault he wasn’t loyal to being a paladin and I was.” Lance muttered under his breath.

      A lie he told himself. Or maybe not a lie, but still not entirely right, not entirely correct. Since leaving, Keith had become Lance’s scapegoat. Food goo was to watery? Keith’s fault. Couldn’t fall asleep? Keith’s fault. Missing Blue? Keith’s fault. Lance supposed he could blame Allura for stealing the Blue Lion from him, but it was easier for him to blame Keith, someone who wasn’t there. If he blamed Allura he was afraid he might end up yelling at her. Like Shiro had yelled at Lance.  
Lance fell back on the ground but this time less from feeling successful and more feeling dread and defeated, regretting throwing the bayard across the room like some toddler throwing a tantrum. He lied on his back and swept a hand over his face to cover his eyes as he let out a shuddering breath. Training sessions were turning more into some weird screwed therapy session with each day. It wasn’t all bad though. Lance always left feeling relieved. A bit more put together. A bit less foolish. And a bit closer to reaching the standards that paladins were expected to meet.

      Lance had been lying on the ground in a half asleep half awake when he heard a voice from the other side of the room.

  
      “Food goo time, Sleeping Beauty.” It was Hunk and as Lance sat up he saw him sitting in the doorway with a bowl in one arm and a whisk in the other.

  
      “Doesn’t look like it’s time if you’re still whisking it.” Lance didn’t even think that Hunk stirred food goo. He’d never helped prepare it, but he knew that basic food goo came out of some hoses in the kitchen.

  
      “Allura gave me some ingredient money, wanted me to make my best dessert. Thought I might as well do it, can’t pass up the chance to finally have some good food.” Hunk paused as if it was his first time thinking Allura’s gift through.  
      “Normally I’d assume it’d be some evil plan to coax us into training on the deck, but she stopped that stuff months ago. Speaking of which, why are you on the training deck?” Hunk grinned and Lance suddenly realized it was more of a joke than an actual question.

  
      “Oh, well, y’know, gotta prepare myself just in case Lotor, um, decides to-”

  
      Lance realized his half-hearted attempt at a funny excuse was going ignored and Hunk was still standing in the doorway but seemed more focused on whisking whatever dessert he had decided on than listening to Lance. Sure, Lance was happy that Hunk hadn’t noticed his offbeat conversational failure, but this kind of stuff had been going on more and more often as of late. People would just ignore Lance, or forget he was there, or in other cases seem annoyed. It wasn’t all the time, but it was enough to almost make him miss arguing and yelling at Keith. At least Keith listened when Lance called him an asshole. Lance tried talking again.

  
      “So- uh, watcha makin?” Lance stood up just as Hunk began paying attention again.

  
      “My grandma’s recipe for a coconut caramel cake, well, except there’s no coconut or caramel. In fact, it’s not even her recipe really, none of the ingredients are at all the same as she uses, probably because we’re in space, and a lot of the steps are changed. But if I do it right, it should taste the same.” Hunk seemed to get a bit more excited and seemed pretty close to falling into a deep lecture on herbs and their uses and how many herbs mimic others through biology and how taste plays a role in evolution or something. Lance wasn’t entirely sure. As much as he’d love to join Pidge and Hunk’s sort of science gang, he just wasn’t able to grasp the concepts. Sometimes he felt left out but others times he didn’t mind so much. Science just wasn’t his thing and he could live with that. Hunk stopped himself just as he was about to go on about the recipe.

  
      “Anyways I should probably get finishing this and you should go get food goo, Allura seemed pretty adamant about it.” Hunk walked back out into the white paneled hallway without another word, whisking and whistling as he walked.

  
      Lance retrieved his bayard from the other side of the room and left the empty training deck behind, walking in the opposite direction from where Hunk was headed, to the dining hall.

      By the time he got there everyone but Hunk, who was putting his desert in the oven, had already sat down. Allura seemed mildly annoyed at Lance for being late but didn’t say anything as he walked over to his seat. An empty chair sat right next to his, which occasionally Lance used to prop his legs up on, although Allura never approved. It used to be Keith’s. It was nice to have some more personal space at the table, but Lance didn’t understand why no one would sit in his spot. It wasn’t reserved or anything, it never had been. And Lance could never address the issue to anyone else because he was also a culprit of not sitting there. He wouldn’t be caught dead being a hypocrite while Pidge was around to point it out.

  
      The second Lance sat on his seat Allura stood up, getting ready to go full Type-A mode. Hunk walked in at about the same time and Allura noticed her mistake of using a power stance before everyone reached the table, as Hunk seemed much less intimidated. She coughed before starting her sentence like Lance’s dad used to do.

  
      “Paladins,” She stood and gazed across the room. Lance thought it was redundant to treat the Paladins as coworkers instead of friends. They’d been living together in the castle for quite some time now, and Lance was pretty sure it wouldn’t hurt for her to tell them what the plan was in a casual way.

  
       As you know we have been putting on shows for audiences across the galaxy.” She seemed to be waiting for an applause, Lance wasn’t planning on giving it to her and neither, it seemed, was anyone else. Allura coughed again.

      “However, making ourselves known as powerful among common folk is not the only important duty to maintain our image.” She paused for dramatic effect, which at first Lance had considered dramatic, but once he realized it was on purpose it seemed to lose its effect.

  
      “We must present ourselves to the more elite, show them that we understand common courtesies and are aware of how to maintain polite social interaction.”  
      Lance felt like he knew where this was going and he either was going to love or hate it.

  
      “Because of this we the Paladins and Altean Royalty shall be hosting the annual Regiis Gala.”

  
      The room went quiet except for an obviously planned gasp from Coran. Pidge raised her hand.

  
      “We don’t know what that is.” She looked around the room to make sure everyone agreed with the sentiment. Lance nodded and saw Hunk do the same.  
Allura sat back down in her chair.

      “And that is why we are going to talk about it over a desert Hunk has prepared. Hunk grinned ceremoniously at the mention of his food. So did Lance. And Pidge. In fact, almost everyone except Shiro who’d been sitting quietly at the opposite head of the table seemed happy about Hunk’s dessert.

      The food goo was on Lance’s plate for maybe a second before he’d scarfed it down. Maybe it was because he was excited about the Regiis Gala, or maybe it was because he had been training so much, but for once the food goo actually didn’t taste terrible. Lance loved dances and parties, although he had to admit, besides some school formals and family weddings he hadn’t been to many fancy ones. But he loved the concept of it. Dancing with strangers, eating nice food, flirting with the elite, perhaps even leaving a kiss on one's cheek before mysteriously disappearing in the night.

  
      Lance had never been and never planned on being a prude, but he could also _never_ tell his teammates how much he longed for contact or romantic intimacy after being crammed on the ship for so long. He’d tried flirting with other girls, hoping for the chance, but never seemed to have time to land a kiss. The mission always ended or there was a mission to attend to and he had to leave before landing the finishing blow: a suggestive joke or touching the person's cheek. Maybe the gala could finally be his chance to relax and have some time to himself to socialize.

  
      By the time that dessert rolled around he was more excited to talk about the gala then to actually eat Hunks food.

  
      “So here’s the general outline,” Allura began as the caramel cake was set on the table, “The Regiis is in two weeks, you will be preparing some long overdue manners and galaxy wide courtesy, there will be a period set aside for dance which all of you must learn to do, and you will speak nothing of Lotor.”

  
      Lance took a bite of the cake, trying to forget Allura even mentioned Lotor. Not that Lance didn’t like him, although that was true, he could stand Lotor. He just hated the idea of him joining the team and betraying Allura. And as he bit into the cake he did forget. The cake was some of the best food he’d eaten in awhile.

  
      “What do you mean manners? We’re perfectly fine.” Hunk said as he was still eating his food, seemingly proving Allura’s point.

  
      “I just mean that since you’ve gotten here, the number of misunderstandings because of different societies have been exponential, it’s about time we fix that.”  
Pidge asked a question this time.

  
      “What is the Regiis Gala celebrating.”

  
      “Well, usually the Regiis Gala celebrates each universally registered nation’s accomplishments of the year, it often lasts up to a week, and this year is hosted by the Hyleqs, and we will be celebrating and given comendation for Zarkon’s demise.”

  
      The room went quiet after that as everyone digested the information. Lance was a bit stuck on the fact that they were celebrating a man’s death. Sure it was Zarkon, sure he was barely a man, not even human, and he had killed many people simply to satisfy his obsession with the lions, which he didn’t even need, but it still felt weird.  
      Maybe it was weird that they weren’t celebrating more. Or maybe it was the form it was taking. Crowds of people cheering and dancing in the street sounded right, not dancing with the wealthy and royal at some gala. Lance avoided the idea that he assisted in the death of someone and moved on. He raised his hand, which seemed silly once he realized what he was doing.

  
     “It's going to last a week?”

  
     “Yes, the first day is an opening ceremony and main celebration at which we will be given gratitude for our nation’s accomplishments. The next days are often more political, while also holding lunchens and parties until late at night.”

  
      A whole week to take it somewhat easy. Lance wasn’t sure he could get much more excited. The room suddenly grew tense and as Lance looked farther down the other end of the table he saw why: Shiro was preparing to ask a question.

  
     “Where will it be held.” It wasn’t a question, it was a statement. He wasn’t hoping Allura would answer, he demanded it.

  
     “On the Hyleq’s home planet. Treath.”

     “More specific.”

  
     Lance could see Allura fight off an imposing facial stance.

  
     “The royal grounds, and the secondary guest lands.”

  
     “Are we sure this is safe.”

  
     “Yes. The Hyleq’s are known for staving off the Galra Empire for over thousands of years.”

  
     “We could be doing more important things than partying amongst other nations ambassadors.”

  
     Allura stood up.

  
     “We could not.”

  
     The room went instantly quiet. Lance didn’t like the tension that had been going on between Allura and Shiro as they seemed to fight for command of the team. Allura sat back down in her chair and Shiro seemed to settle, although the air was still sizzling with electricity and everyone seemed on edge. Lance took a bite of the cake and tried to distract himself with it once again. It really was the best food he’d had in months, and the faux coconut shavings reminded him of home and those stupid drinks the tourists always bought.

  
     Allura coughed again, and whether to break the tension or give them more news, Lance wasn’t sure until she spoke.

  
     “Keith will be returning to attend.”

  
      A plate hit the wall and Lance was storming out before he even knew what he was doing. No one called out for him. So he kept walking down the halls. He would have kept walking anyways. Soon the walking didn’t feel fast enough and he started jogging and then running.

      He meant to go to his room, he really did but somehow he ended up in the training deck again, and by the time he’d reached it he didn’t even feel like punching a wall. In fact, maybe he never did. Maybe he felt like crying. But the training room was too sterile and empty and large to cry in, so he sat in a corner and stared at the wall.

  
      Lance hadn’t been keeping track of the time but it had been a good hour of staring at the wall and thinking and hurting and realizing that: if Keith stayed after the gala Lance would have to give up his spot he so unrightfully earned on the team. He was tired but didn’t want to leave the training deck. What he once saw as work and exhaustion he now saw as homey and somewhat comforting besides the stark white lights.

  
      It seemed like a ridiculous idea, but Lance decided he’d sleep there tonight. Just this once. He didn’t want to be in such close quarters with everyone else after dinner.

      After sneaking back to his room and grabbing some blankets and pillows from off his bed he ended up back in the corner of the training room setting up a small pallet for himself. It seemed comfy and for a second Lance wondered if the room could project holograms besides the harmless beginner training bots. Maybe it could show him the beach back home. But before he could contemplate sending himself into another longing spiral for the beach and his family he fell asleep. That night he had a dream about Keith and the team and Earth’s ocean waves. And he’d never admit it, but he woke up in the morning with tears running down his cheeks.


	2. Update Tomorrow

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I will be late to upload.

I wrote the second chapter but after reviewing it I realized it was way too short and barely revised, so I'll be rewriting it today and posting tomorrow.

**Author's Note:**

> I'll be updating every Thursday with a new chapter. Leaving positive comments really does help me get chapters done faster and boosts my confidence a heck of a lot. Any suggestions or critiques are helpful and have fun reading this!


End file.
